New York Jets 13 Tennessee 38: Locker sends Titans to victory with three TD passes before being forced off with hip injury

The Tennessee Titans got a very big win over the New York Jets. Their celebration is muted while they wait to see if they lost their quarterback.

And if they did, just for how long.

Jake Locker threw a career-high three touchdowns before injuring his hip seriously enough to send him to the hospital, and the Titans finished off a 38-13 rout Sunday of the Jets for their second straight victory.

Locker was hurt with 11:14 left in the third quarter when hit first by Muhammad Wilkerson after throwing an incomplete pass, then popped by Quinton Coples. He grabbed at his hip as he went to the ground and was taken from the field before being loaded into an ambulance.

Titans coach Mike Munchak did not have an update or a diagnosis after the game.

'When it's your quarterback, it seems to hurt more,' Munchak said.

Alterraun Verner intercepted two
passes and recovered a fumble, Karl Klug sacked Smith and stripped him
of the ball for a TD as the Titans turned Smith's four turnovers into 28
points. Ropati Pitoitua had two of Tennessee's five sacks as the Titans
(3-1) continued their surprising start.

The Jets (2-2) couldn't overcome
Smith's rookie mistakes, especially not after receiver Stephen Hill was
knocked out of the game with a head injury on the second offensive play.

Smith had one fewer turnover than Mark
Sanchez did last December when the Jets lost to the Titans 14-10 in an
ugly game between two teams headed to 6-10 finishes. The Jets cut their
penalties in half from a week ago when they had 20, but it wasn't enough
with all the turnovers.

'It shocks me,' Jets coach Rex Ryan
said. 'I never expected for the game to turn out like this. Certainly a
shock. I don't know what else to say.'

The Jets now get to look for answers.

The Titans already have half as many
wins through the first month as they managed all of 2012, and they
joined the 1995 St. Louis Rams as the only teams in the Super Bowl era
without a turnover through the first four games.

But the victory was overshadowed by Locker's injury.

Wilkerson said he didn't realize Locker was hurt and that the referee told him it was a clean hit.

'It was a clean hit,' Wilkerson said. 'If it was late the ref would have thrown a flag. They didn't throw a flag.'

Locker missed five games last year
with a dislocated shoulder, an injury that affected him throughout the
season. Fully healthy, Locker was starting to play like the franchise
quarterback the Titans wanted when they drafted him No. 8 overall in
2011 out of Washington.

Against the Jets, Locker completed
passes to seven different receivers with TD passes to Delanie Walker,
Nate Washington and rookie Justin Hunter for a 24-6 halftime lead.

'It was a really big shot,' Chris
Johnson said of losing Locker. 'We had a lot of momentum, everything
going our way and just for the play to happen like that ... it just kind
of sucked it all out of us.'

Ryan Fitzpatrick, signed in March to
back up Locker, started slowly coming off the bench. But he connected
with Washington on a 77-yard TD during which the receiver went up for
the ball away from Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie, knocked down back
judge Billy Smith as he landed and then ran to the end zone for a 38-13
lead midway through the fourth quarter.

'I was brought here for a reason, and
the reason I was brought here was to help Jake out and be ready for a
situation like this if it came up,' Fitzpatrick said.

The Jets managed one TD drive in the
fourth quarter as Smith threw a 34-yard pass to Jeff Cumberland. Nick
Folk kicked a pair of field goals.

Blow: Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker (10) left the field with a hip injury

It just wasn't enough with the
Titans blitzing Smith and hitting him repeatedly. Verner stepped in
front of Hill and intercepted Smith's first pass at midfield and ran it
back 34 yards with safety Michael Griffin leveling Hill after the catch.

Verner also recovered a fumble after
Titans linebacker Zach Brown chopped the ball away from Smith, setting
up Locker's second TD pass. Verner got his second interception late in
the first half to set up Locker's third TD pass to Hunter.